Sorry for the quality, my photographer had lots of celebratory beer...
The Over Mountain Enduro was the brain child of endurance downhill specialist Mark Weir. I like Mark a lot. I also like to beat him on his home turf.
That’s what I set out to do at the Highland Moutain Bike park this past weekend in New Hampshire.
Three timed “specials” were on tap, mostly down technical descents, with a little bit of pedaling thrown in to keep everyone honest. There was also a special, optional, timed climb that would earn you a $500 bonus if you were the fastest up it.
During practice on Friday I familiarized myself with a brand new, 2012 Kona Satori. This all new tail 29er is pretty sweet machine. Equipped with a Rock Shocks Reverb dropper seat post and a single chainring up front, I was monster trucking down the gnarly descents with reckless abandon, squirting up the climbs like a bar of soap in the prison showers and grinning ear to ear the entire time. With 130mm of travel front and rear, slack geometry and a super short rear end, the Satori was the perfect bike to do battle with all the bro’s in baggys and 6 inch trail bikes.
Somehow I had drawn plate #1, so I was the first to go. Not wanting to let my number down I put in the fastest time on Special number 1 and Number 2, rode the climbers prime section 3 minutes faster than the next guy, then cruised down the final special in one piece to claim the overall victory. Not bad for a skinny guy in spandex riding on a 29er.
After the race everyone was checking out my bike and trying to figure out how I had done what I just did. Mad skillz and rad bike usually add up to victory though, so I guess they will just have to live with it. I collected my huge (literally and figuratively) check to go with my huge wheels, danced a little jig atop the podium, and headed back to Chicago to do a cross race the next day. Which I also won.
Isn’t bike riding the coolest?
Check out the results here.
Nasty Out
